The Other Winner of That Big Powerball Prize? The I.R.S. — Dollars and Sense

On Wednesday, the Powerball lottery reached a record $587.5 million. So far two winning tickets have been announced, one in Arizona and one in Missouri. But there’s at least one more guaranteed winner: the Internal Revenue Service.

Lottery winners can take their prize in the form of a lump sum or an annuity paid over the next 29 years. The two winners would receive $192.5 million each if they elected to go with the lump sum. Since the IRS treats lottery winnings as regular income, it would be taxed at the top rate of 35 percent, meaning Uncle Sam would shave off about $65 million from each of them.

State taxes in Arizona and Missouri also take a chunk, dropping the winners’ final take to about $114 million in Arizona and $117.5 million in Missouri. Obviously, that’s still a ton of dough, but it’s good to keep in mind that when you hear “$587.5 million winner”, the final amount that goes into the winners’ pockets is much smaller.

And this just counts what the government takes. Best of luck dealing with all your about-to-be-discovered long-lost relatives.

Welcome back to Classic Country 1280 KSLI

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on .
To keep your points and personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you.
To activate your account, please confirm your password.
When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

*Please note that your points, prizes and activities will not be shared between programs within our VIP network.

Welcome back to Classic Country 1280 KSLI

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://1280ksli.com using your original account information.